Lifestyle change can be really hard.
Not always at the start. In the beginning, we have the best of intentions.
And we often make progress. Lose weight. Feel better. Fit into our favorite clothes. Get a high five from our doctor. Get off some meds. Get asked for that recipe by a finicky friend. Stop eating junk and make better choices. Healthy lifestyle for the win!
And then life happens.
Maybe some of these sound like familiar signposts on your own journey to better health…
- The reunion or wedding is over, and apparently so is our motivation.
- A delay during a holiday trip leaves us with the minimart off the highway as the only option for dinner.
- A well-meaning houseguest brings our favorite guilty pleasure.
- Everyone leaves the party without taking home some dessert.
- Life gets busy and we eat out/take out more than we should.
- We get bored and add in special occasion foods on a random weekday.
- We try short cut fad food or medicines that often make things worse.
- We succumb to grazing at a party or break room with foods we don’t even like.
- We forget to plan for success.
- We forget our why.
What I learned about a healthy lifestyle change from a board game.
The path to a lasting lifestyle change reminds me of one of my favorite childhood board games, Chutes and Ladders. You work hard to climb each ladder, to make progress and move forward with confidence, but sometimes a simple spin of the spinner drops you behind everyone else after you were doing so well. Ouch.
I loved that game.
Why? Because it taught me to expect the unexpected, to laugh at myself but not at others, and that by picking yourself back up, you could reach your goals and celebrate.
Looking back, that board game may be one of the reason’s I coach the way I do.
I know firsthand that a journey to better health is not always linear and that life happens.
It is never about how many times we fall, but that we continue to get up. There is a Japanese proverb “Nana korobi ya oki” which translates to ‘Fall down seven times, get up eight’. As we age, falling down can have consequences as time is no longer on our side, so it is important to keep moving forward. And a whole food plant-based lifestyle change, if built on a strong foundation, can help keep the chutes to a minimum.
It’s your move.
If you have fallen down one of the chutes in your healthy lifestyle journey, I get it. But that is not the end of your story. Even if you hit that really big slide up in the 80s row on the game board (I always seemed to catch that one), there is a ladder waiting with your very next move, or in the case of a plant-based journey, next bite.
Just give yourself the grace to spin again.
ps. Games are always more fun with like-minded friends. If you want some company and a guide to help you avoid the chutes and find the ladders on your journey, join my Eat to Heal Over 50 Mastery Program.
